Recently released figures show that the average national property price in Spain fell for the 73rd consecutive month in May, although some experts now believe that the market is close to bottoming out.
Palacio Real de la Granga
According to the latest fotocasa.es real estate index, which was created by the IESE Business School, the average price of a house in Spain was 1,794 euros per square metre in May – 0.8 per cent down from April’s figure. House values across Spain have now fallen by just over 39 per cent from the market peak of 2,952 square metres recorded in April 2007, according to the fotocasa.es figures.
Annually, prices have fallen by 4.4 per cent.
However, the latest data shows that not all areas of Spain experienced property price declines in the past month. The provinces of Zamora (+1.2 per cent), Navarra (+0.3 per cent), Tarragona (+0.2 per cent), Tenerife (+0.1 per cent) and the Balearic Islands (+0.5 per cent) all experienced monthly price rises.
And Spanish property expert mark Stucklin, of the Spanish Property Insight portal, told Property Investor Europe that he believes the market in Spain has almost fallen as low as it can possibly go. “I think we are approaching the bottom of the market in some popular coastal areas and key cities like Barcelona and Madrid,” he said. “I’ve seen prices go down 50 per cent and I don’t think they’ll go down much further, certainly not another 50 per cent. If you can afford it, Spain now offers good value if you are looking for a home to enjoy.”
The fotocasa.es index reveals that the most expensive property prices in the country are found in the Basque Guipúzcoa province (3,432 euros per square metre) while the cheapest are in Toledo (1,169 euros per square metre), located 70 kilomatres south of Madrid.